High-quality game that provides quick fun
Certainly component quality matters in a game.
As players – at least for we Meeple Guilders — we want a game to look good on the table, and the pieces we are moving around to ‘feel’ good in hand. Such things simply add to the game experience positively.
In some cases, games do go above the norm in terms of component quality.
Toppa, by designer Mark Gonya, is a very simple, quick-to-play game.
You hide nine coins – three each of three colors – under play pieces on your board.
You then trade your board for that of your opponent – it’s a two-player game.
Each turn you reveal a colored chip. Get the three green ones first you win.
Find a red or yellow disc and it will have an impact on the game. You might get to cover spots on the opponent’s board, or you might even exchange boards again as examples.
Having a good memory is a significant asset here.
So to start the component quality is almost ridiculously high.
The boards are thick and smooth wood, with perfectly drilled holes for the colored chips (plastic but nice), and then the covering chips, back to wood that is even contoured to allow easy stacking. On the table, Toppa looks great.
GGameplayis easy – you could teach this one in two minutes but in that, there is not a lot of depth, although Gonya says strategies do emerge.
“It takes playing a few times before the different strategies begin to reveal themselves,” he said. “Toppa starts a bit random with players taking turns revealing spaces without much information but very quickly becomes a contest of memory and strategy depending on which colors are revealed first.”
Still, it was born with an eye for simplicity too.
“The initial idea was a ‘What’s the simplest game I can make that’s still fun?’ experiment,” explained Gonya. “That first version of Toppa was very different from the current game, boards were significantly larger and the rules didn’t utilize any kind of strategy at all. Strictly a bback-and-forthguessing game. Even though I thought it was fun it also really needed an extra element to make it more strategic and something people would want to play repeatably.”
But Gonya wanted to maintain simplicity too.
“One of the things I wanted to stick with from the original concept was that the rules of the game should fit on a single page,” he said. “I started to play tests with several different sets of alternative rules. Eventually one of those sets started working well and with a bit of further tweaking it became the Toppa game as it stands today. Off and on it was over two years in development.”
Still over a coffee or brew, this one is fun. You don’t always want to play chess, and with Toppa, you can have it to the table and play a few games on a half-hour break.
Fun was really at the root of the project.
“I have fond memories of my brother and I making up our card games as kids so making my own tabletop game is something that was always in the back of my mind,” said Gonya. “Now as a graphic designer, I have a huge admiration and love for simplicity. I thought if I made a game that was not just fun but super fast to set up that would be something my friends and I would enjoy and something to be proud of. I also wanted to make a game that felt timeless where if someone told you they discovered this old game people used to play with wood and stones that wouldn’t seem reasonable otobelieve.”
Toppa is not the best game of 2024 – it would vie for best components – but as a coffee table game for the casual gamer it merits a long look. There is a certain casual charm that will win fans.
About Author
Calvin Daniels is a Saskatchewan-born, self-taught journalist. He is currently Editor of Yorkton This Week, with 35-years in the newspaper business.
Topple
High-quality game that provides quick fun
As players – at least for we Meeple Guilders — we want a game to look good on the table, and the pieces we are moving around to ‘feel’ good in hand. Such things simply add to the game experience positively.
In some cases, games do go above the norm in terms of component quality.
Toppa, by designer Mark Gonya, is a very simple, quick-to-play game.
You hide nine coins – three each of three colors – under play pieces on your board.
You then trade your board for that of your opponent – it’s a two-player game.
Each turn you reveal a colored chip. Get the three green ones first you win.
Find a red or yellow disc and it will have an impact on the game. You might get to cover spots on the opponent’s board, or you might even exchange boards again as examples.
Having a good memory is a significant asset here.
So to start the component quality is almost ridiculously high.
The boards are thick and smooth wood, with perfectly drilled holes for the colored chips (plastic but nice), and then the covering chips, back to wood that is even contoured to allow easy stacking. On the table, Toppa looks great.
GGameplayis easy – you could teach this one in two minutes but in that, there is not a lot of depth, although Gonya says strategies do emerge.
“It takes playing a few times before the different strategies begin to reveal themselves,” he said. “Toppa starts a bit random with players taking turns revealing spaces without much information but very quickly becomes a contest of memory and strategy depending on which colors are revealed first.”
Still, it was born with an eye for simplicity too.
“The initial idea was a ‘What’s the simplest game I can make that’s still fun?’ experiment,” explained Gonya. “That first version of Toppa was very different from the current game, boards were significantly larger and the rules didn’t utilize any kind of strategy at all. Strictly a bback-and-forthguessing game. Even though I thought it was fun it also really needed an extra element to make it more strategic and something people would want to play repeatably.”
But Gonya wanted to maintain simplicity too.
“One of the things I wanted to stick with from the original concept was that the rules of the game should fit on a single page,” he said. “I started to play tests with several different sets of alternative rules. Eventually one of those sets started working well and with a bit of further tweaking it became the Toppa game as it stands today. Off and on it was over two years in development.”
Still over a coffee or brew, this one is fun. You don’t always want to play chess, and with Toppa, you can have it to the table and play a few games on a half-hour break.
Fun was really at the root of the project.
“I have fond memories of my brother and I making up our card games as kids so making my own tabletop game is something that was always in the back of my mind,” said Gonya. “Now as a graphic designer, I have a huge admiration and love for simplicity. I thought if I made a game that was not just fun but super fast to set up that would be something my friends and I would enjoy and something to be proud of. I also wanted to make a game that felt timeless where if someone told you they discovered this old game people used to play with wood and stones that wouldn’t seem reasonable otobelieve.”
Toppa is not the best game of 2024 – it would vie for best components – but as a coffee table game for the casual gamer it merits a long look. There is a certain casual charm that will win fans.
About Author
Calvin Daniels
Calvin Daniels is a Saskatchewan-born, self-taught journalist. He is currently Editor of Yorkton This Week, with 35-years in the newspaper business.
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